Lucky Hearts
by MissingMommy
Summary: Elladora's search for a good luck charm leads her a bit astray. :: Muggle!AU, for Sophie


For Sophie. I hope you enjoy this!

* * *

She sits in the barred room. Her wrists are clasped in chains that allow just enough movement for her to stand, if she desired, or for her to lie down as comfortable as she's going to get. She prefers the feel of the metal against her flesh over a jacket that would force her to hug herself.

At least with the chains, she can maintain her dignity. Who would want to be forced to hug themselves? It's shameful.

She sits there, grinning like mad. She revels in the fact that her sister will never get over what she's done and what she will do to her brother when she gets out of here.

Because she will see Phineas destroyed as she saw Iola destroyed.

* * *

Elladora is five when her eldest brother gets sick. It starts off with fatigue and chest pains. They're sitting at the table for dinner when Sirius starts coughing into his napkin, and coughing and coughing.

When the coughing fit finally finishes, Sirius looks exhausted, his eyes watering as he pants. Elladora sees blood around her brother's lips; it's a stark comparison against his pale skin. She becomes transfixed.

"Sirius, go to your room," her father orders.

It breaks Elladora out of her trance. Her brother doesn't argue as he tosses his bloody handkerchief on his plate before going to his room.

Her father stands. "I'm going to get the doctor. No one is allowed around Sirius while I'm gone."

When he stalks out of the dining room, Elladora hears her mother sob. She doesn't know why her mother would cry over blood on a napkin. They sit around the table quietly, waiting for Cygnus to come back. She dutifully sits through the check up from the doctor when her father brings him back.

When Elladora is in bed that night, after the doctor announced Sirius has consumption and her father forbids them from going near him, she thinks about the red against her brother's lips. There's just something enchanting about it.

* * *

"What are you doing?"

Elladora turns to see her brother, Phineas, who stands behind her, a frown on his face. He looks much older than his sixteen years when he's looking at her with disappointment.

She's wearing a pair of his old trousers and his old shirt since she didn't want to get one of her dresses dirty. She's thankful that he confronted her now and not later; she has been wanting to explore the carcass of the dead cat she spotted since she saw it yesterday. When she turns, she gives her brother a horrified look.

"I thought I saw something move over here earlier. But I think it's dead!" she exclaims.

Phineas side-steps her to get a better look. He puts his arm around her shoulder, leading her away. "Stay here. I'll take care of it."

Despite having the urge to find a way to get Phineas to forget about it, she lets him bring out the shovel and bury the cat. She'll dig it up tonight while the moon is full and bright. That way, Phineas won't question her actions.

* * *

Elladora hates the parties that her family throws. They're a bore at best, and an inconvenience at worst. Her parents are trying desperately to find a suitor for her, despite the fact that she doesn't want a husband.

She takes a drag of her cigarette, exhaling into the cold winter night. She savors the feel of the burn in her lungs.

"A lady shouldn't be smoking. A man would never make you a wife with that nasty habit."

She turns towards the door to see her sister-in-law walking towards her. Ursula Flint is average in every way, except in the way a high class woman should behave; Cygnus had declared that she would make a fine wife for Phineas and they wed not long after Phineas' eighteenth birthday.

Elladora snorts. She takes another drag before answering. "I would care, but you'll find that I don't want nor need a husband. Men are vile and disgusting creatures."

Ursula comes to stand next to her, taking in the view the balcony gives them of the city. Her gold and green dress has intricate beadwork on the green velvet. "You may not want one, but you'll need one."

"Say I indulge you. What should I do to be more desirable?" she asks. She blows more smoke into the air as she waits for her sister-in-law to reply.

"Be more ladylike. You're of the prime age to marry," Ursula answers. "Take up stitching or sewing instead of parading around in men's clothing."

Elladora takes another long drag, resisting the urge to blow the smoke in her officious sister-in-law's face. "And what? I'll be lucky enough to win the heart of a man?"

"Yes," she says. She pats Elladora's arm. "Just try it. Your parents are frustrated that no suitor has asked for your hand because of this." She waves her hand in Elladora's direction.

She doesn't say anything as Ursula disappears back inside. She finishes her cigarette, considering Ursula's advice. There has to be a way to keep herself from being married. Maybe she'll take a man's heart.

* * *

Excitement fills her veins. She's walking behind a man as he heads to a part of town she's never been in before. She has been following him for a little while, ensuring that she isn't seen.

She _needs_ his heart. She doesn't want to marry the Malfoy heir. Maybe this disgusting creature's heart could be lucky, like the cat's heart had been; after taking the cat's heart, her parents had eased off the need for her to marry when they found out Phineas and Ursula were expecting their first child.

When he turns down an alley, she quickens her pace, tapping on his shoulder. He turns around quickly, tense and ready to fight. The fight drains out of him instantly when he sees her.

"Did you drop this?" she asks, holding out a handkerchief.

The man shakes his head. "No, Miss, I didn't. You could—"

She stabs him before he can say more. His hand instinctively comes up to touch the wound, surprise lining his face. His hand is covered in blood when he pulls it away. She stabs him again and again until he's unmoving on the ground.

A deep sense of satisfaction fills her. The blood is warmer and stickier than the cat's blood had been. She likes the feel of it on her skin. She places an opened jar on the ground near his body and begins to cut into his chest. She holds the heart in her hands. It's still warm and sticky with blood and larger than any cat heart she's had. She transfers the heart into the jar and closes it. After she's done with that, she cleans her bloodstained hands with the handkerchief.

She stands, grabbing her jar and her knife, and carefully retraces her steps back to Grimmauld Place. She wants to take her heart to her bedroom, but she doesn't want it discovered. Instead, she takes it down to the basement. She had cleaned a little corner of it in preparation of retrieving a talisman.

The heart goes on the shelf and Elladora studies it for a long time. She strokes the glass almost lovingly. "Let's see how lucky you are," she whispers.

Then she spins on her heels and makes her way upstairs to change her clothes and clean her hands better.

The next morning, a pageboy had brought the news that the Malfoys were retracting their request of Elladora's hand. Her father had been furious, ranting and raving most of the morning. She hides her victorious smile about the good news. She was right; the man's heart had been lucky.

* * *

Elladora joins her family at the table, demanding her food and coffee. She's riding the high of her latest kill. Stabbing him had been euphoric.

"They still can't find the person who is killing these men," her father says offhandedly. "It's the third body they've found. They're calling him 'Jack the Ripper'."

Her mother looks horrified by that news. "Someone needs to stop that man."

She barely resists the urge to correct her. Her younger sister stops nibbling on her food, turning a little green at the mention of Elladora's work. Iola asks to be excused. Their father waves his hand in her direction and Iola takes it as permission.

She doesn't know why her sister would be disgusted about the deaths. Those men were even more vile and disgusting creatures than the men her parents parade in front of her and Iola.

* * *

Once she's felt the satisfaction of taking a man's heart, she finds that she wants to do it again and again and again. It is thrilling to watch the life drain out of these men before she takes their hearts. There is nothing more enjoyable. There's eight hearts in her basement and she wants _more_. She _needs_ more.

She has perfected her method. She waits until the women pay the men and leave the alley before she sneaks into it. The men are too caught up in the aftermaths of their pleasure to hear her coming. She slides the knife across the throats, preventing them from screaming.

Once the light leaves their eyes, she opens up the chests and takes their hearts, filling another jar for her collection. Since she started collected them, her father hasn't talked about potential suitors for her.

These hearts are truly lucky.

* * *

Elladora stalks through the street, anger as hot as molten rock pulses through her veins. She doesn't even notice the rain falling around her. She has to get to Iola.

Her sister couldn't—wouldn't—betray her like this. That _man_ must be blackmailing her sister. Iola wouldn't run off with one of those disgusting creatures, not when Elladora has been showing her just how heartless men can be.

She finds Iola with that _man_ at the train station. Her sister meets her grey eyes with a determination that she's never seen in her sister before. "Elladora, I'm not changing my mind. I love Bob and I refuse to let Mother and Father bully me into a loveless marriage."

Realizing that her sister won't change her mind, she changes tactics. "I wasn't here to talk you out of it. If this is what you want, then do it, little sister. I'm asking you to stay in London. Mother and Father will never suspect that you've stayed."

"Ella," Iola starts softly. "I didn't—"

"We've already lost Sirius. Don't make me lose you too," she says, equally as soft. She'll say anything to make sure her sister stays.

Her sister searches her face for something. Then she turns to the man beside her. He's watching her curiously.

"What do you say, Bob?" Iola asks him. Elladora refrains from telling Iola she shouldn't lower herself to his level, that she doesn't need that man's approval.

He turns his attention to Iola. "Whatever makes you happy."

Iola bites her inner cheek, debating for a long moment. "Oh alright. We'll stay."

"Thank you," Elladora says, relieved. She still has time to convince Iola to leave that man.

* * *

The next two months leave Elladora in a state of restlessness. After her father's death, she doesn't have time to collect hearts. Her fingers itch with the need to _take_ but she has to play the role of a dutiful daughter.

To curb the need growing under her skin, she oftens visits the basement in the dead of night, stroking each jar. They are gathering dust from how long they've been sitting there. They are far luckier than she expected. Phineas is too caught up with his son to accept suitors for her, and no one would allow her mother to accept suitors on her daughter's behalf.

But even that doesn't help. So she dresses in her brother's old clothes and takes her knife and a jar. It's still light out, but men are starting to light the lamp posts. She makes her way towards where her sister now lives. It's such a disgrace, living below the status they had their entire life.

She waits near Iola's house, concealed in an alley nearby. The light is beginning to fade when _he_ finally comes by. "Bob," she calls out sweetly. Elladora gives him a fake smile she perfected years ago when he stops and faces her. "Can we talk for a minute? It's important."

"You can come in and talk to me and Iola," he answers, turning to continue.

"It's actually about Iola," she counters.

He considers it for a moment before he comes closer to her. "Are you wanting to talk about her b—"

She stabs him in the gut before he gets a chance to finish. He looks at her in horror. It reminds her of her first kill, before she perfected her method.

"You," he chokes out.

She gives him a cruel smile this time. "Yes, me."

"Stay away from me and Iola, you monster," he yells, trying to move away from her.

Her vision turns red as red hot anger fills her veins. She stabs and stabs and stabs until her arm is aching with exertion and she's panting harshly. Warm, sticky blood covers her clothes, hands, and face. Her hand shakes as she cuts her way into his chest.

The heart is mangled with cuts. Elladora barely refrains from screaming in anger. It fuels her to stab more.

She hears voices and footsteps. She looks around and disappears into the night, heartless and angry.

* * *

Elladora is reading the article about Bob's death two days later. The police and reporters are horrified at the level of violence she displayed. _He deserves it for taking Iola from me_ , she thinks.

Footsteps cause Elladora to look up from the paper. Her brother stands in the doorway of the dining room with two other men. She studies all three of them, and finds herself annoyed when she can't figure out why they're there. "What is going on, brother?"

"I tried to overlook you dressing in my clothes, but I can't any longer," Phineas answers flatly. "Any man I try to match you with refuses. You are too difficult."

She snorts. "I've told you that I don't need nor want a husband."

Her brother pinches the bridge of his nose. "I'm sorry, but if I can't find you a husband, I have no choice."

"Speak plainly, Phineas."

Instead of answering, the two men come closer to her. Finally, it clicks. "The asylum? You wouldn't."

He doesn't move from the doorway and the men don't stop walking towards her.

"Tell them to stop, Phineas. Tell them the joke is over."

"This is no joke, Elladora. You left me no choice," he informs her evenly.

Elladora pushes her seat back, standing and moving away from the men. They're trapping her in the room. "Phineas! Stop this. Stop!" she yells. But the men don't.

They each wrap a hand around her biceps tightly. Elladora struggles, but it's useless; she can't escape. They start dragging her towards the door.

"Stop fighting this, sister," Phineas says.

"I will kill you!" she shouts instead. "I will have your heart, brother! Mark my words! I will have your heart."

The men drag her to the carriage and force her inside of it. She can't believe her brother would actually commit her to an asylum.

* * *

A year later, an article comes out in the newspaper titled, _Is Jack the Ripper gone?_

Elladora sits in her barred room, an unscratchable itch to murder simmering under her skin, as she plans her escape. She has a promise to keep.

* * *

For MOS: Elladora Black, suspense, flesh

For Hogwarts: Assignment 6, Women's History, task 3

Character appreciation: Pureblood

Shannon's showcase: Happiest Minute of the Week - Write about the happiest minute of a character's week

Book club: Cliff Ackerly - (word) bully, (action) paying someone, (plot point) getting revenge

Showtime: Cell Block Tango - (action) Murder

Days: True Confessions Day - Write about someone confessing something

Buttons: (dialogue) "Did you drop this?", (word) Euphoria

Restriction: (word) officious

A year: Book: Northern Lights/The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman - (word) Dust

Tv show: Angel: (item) coffee, (action) stalking, (quote) "Passion. It lies in all of us. Sleeping, waiting, and though unwanted, unbidden, it will stir. Open its jaws, and howl. It speaks to us, guides us. Passion rules us all, and we obey. What other choice do we have?"

Liza Loves: Hawk Moth - Baker!AU - Alt - Write about a start

Sophie's Shelf: euphoria, satisfaction, pulse, nibble, molten, deep

Scavenger: Write about a member of the Black family (not Sirius or Regulus)

Library: The Cuckoo's Calling - (Action) Attempting to stab someone, (Location) Balcony, (Genre) Crime

Jewels: Citrine - Ring: Write about someone being open to new ideas, Bracelet: Write about someone buying/searching for a lucky charm.

Caffeine: Galao - Write about finding a passion

Lent: Only characters we don't see in the films.

Small island getaway: Giant's Causeway- (word) intricate, (weather) stormy, (color) grey

Insane: 455. Word - Talisman - (A good luck charm)

365: 185. Location - Grimmauld Place


End file.
